For many students, fall means fresh school supplies, new teachers and friends.

But for students at Owego Apalachin Middle School, autumn didn't just introduce new teachers, but new ways of learning.

This year, the school has developed a virtual reality lab and aquaponics lab to expand the school's STEAM Academy.

But the new programs haven't just enhanced students' learning, but increased their enthusiasm for all things STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art and math.

"Being able to pull this all together, and create engagement and excitement for students around STEAM, we think, is an important part of what we do," said Corey A. Green, superintendent of the Owego Apalachin School District.

Both labs have been built into the school's budget as part of the district's heightened focus in STEAM.

"We're at the beginning stages right now," Green said. "There's certainly a lot more. We're going to go much more in depth with the program and how we build it into our normal daily curriculum."

Learning through virtual reality

In the corner of a computer lab, James Wood, 11, dissected a diamondback rattlesnake.

"There's nothing inside the tail," the sixth-grader discovered. "It's just the tail."

Although Wood could pick apart the snake to learn what it looks like from the inside, the snake was not in the room — it was simulated through a virtual reality computer program.

In September, the middle school received virtual reality equipment from zSpace, a California-based company that supplies hardware, software and educational content to classrooms for a virtual reality learning experience.

Students began testing out the technology on Sept. 14, each donning glasses with four sensors that correspond with cameras on a computer to determine where the child's head is positioned.

CLOSE

Owego Middle School students tested out a virtual reality program on Sept. 14.
Maggie Gilroy / Staff video

Using a stylus, they are able to manipulate the program and complete tasks provided by the lesson.

The program's hundreds of lessons will be used to supplement and enhance curriculum in each classroom.

John Heath, who teaches science and robotics classes at the school, will serve as the facilitator of the virtual reality lab and assist teachers in pairing the technology with their curriculum.

"It really offers a lot of possibilities, either as whole class or smaller groups of students from the classrooms," Heath said.

In one lesson, students can peer inside of a heart, viewing how its veins and arteries appear from the inside. Using the stylus, they are able to feel the heart beat.

"I think it's fun," Wood said while testing out the program.

While the program is new to the district, it didn't take students long to navigate the technology.

"You put some adults in front of these things, and they want somebody to tell them what to do and where to click," Heath said. "You put 11-, 12-, 13-year-olds in front of them, they're clicking away. They're discovering things that it took me days to be instructed on."

"It's five and a half centimeters tall," sixth-grader Samantha Ward reports her plant's height to Mahon.

Ward proudly holds an iPad displaying a chart that tracks the progress of her lettuce. This chart is part of a classwide assignment, requiring each student to claim a lettuce plant to track its growth and learn how aquaponics plays a role in that growth.

In Mahon's aquaponics class, the students learn that fish waste produces ammonia, which turns into nitrate and fertilizes the plants. The plants then produce gas that keeps the water clean for the fish.